


Three Strikes

by BlueKhaos



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Captain America - Freeform, Dating, F/M, Falling In Love, Love, One Shot, Reader-Insert, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-23
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-07-16 19:28:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7281712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueKhaos/pseuds/BlueKhaos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve asks some Avengers for some dating advice after several failed dates.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Strikes

**Author's Note:**

> Yoooo, what's good y'all? I hope you've all been well. I hope you enjoy this one shot that I just finished.

It had been three days since Steve had last spoken with you. You had been running through his head the entire month ever since he and Sam visited the jazz club where you had worked. Seeing that the Avengers had had some downtime to relax, especially after the civil war fiasco among themselves, both he and Sam decided it would be a good idea to go out and enjoy what the city had to offer.

The club was in full swing that first night. He could still remember the energetic rhythm of the instruments vibrating throughout the floor of the spacious room and smell of cigar smoke filling his nostrils. It was rather nostalgic for him as he recalled such music being popular during his time, but he quickly brushed away the thought. It was a new era now, one that he had come to like in the recent years. Still, he was content knowing that music like this was still appreciated in modern times.

After taking a seat at the bar and ordering some drinks with Sam, the room was flooded with applauses and whistles from the cheerful patrons. Steve and Sam spun around on their barstools to face the stage as they waited patiently for the next performance. A well-dressed gentleman walked onto the stage and stood in front of the mic as he waited for the crowd to settle down. Once the room was quiet, he began speaking.

“Man, wasn’t that some fantastic playing from our band, ladies and gentleman?” asked the fashionable man as the crowd erupted into cheers once again. “I know you have been waiting eagerly all night for our last and most popular act, so let me now introduce to you, Ms. Y/N L/N!”

As soon as the speaker had finished and walked off stage, the lights dimmed, causing the room to look dreamlike from the wisps of smoke. The band began to play a slow and sultry song, as if trying to lure the crowd into a hypnotic state. The scarlet-colored stage curtains slid away and the lights focused on the center, revealing your figure to the audience. The patrons in the room whistled and shouted in support, thrilled to see their favorite singer strutting leisurely towards the mic.

Steve recalled how time seemed to stop once his blue eyes locked onto your form. He thought you were stunning, almost reminding him of a brightly-colored art piece. An orange hibiscus flower was tucked away behind your ear, contrasting brightly against the color of your hair. Your yellow dress clung tightly to your torso, but billowed out in waves towards the bottom as a dangerously high slit showed off one of your smooth legs. Sharp stiletto heels rattled his heart as they clicked loudly against the wooden floor. The room seemed to grow warm with your very presence.

“Songbird” was the first word to come to his mind as his gaze settled on your heavenly face and he was truly convinced that was exactly what you were when you belted out that first note.

From that very day, Steve was determined to meet you somehow. He began to visit the club more frequently on his days off to watch your performances and get a glimpse of you. He had noticed that after every show, you had changed into casual clothing and came out to interact with the patrons. Your behavior with the club’s guests was completely different from how you presented yourself on stage.

When singing to your audience, you commanded attention with your smoldering glances and swaying hips as your melodic voice warmed the souls of the people who heard you. As for being around the patrons, you were always full of giggles and cracking jokes. You were also surprising clumsy, often growing flustered when you tripped over someone’s foot or spilled your drink from talking animatedly. Nonetheless, the people around you found your personality endearing and were always willing to help out their favorite singer.

Luckily for Steve, you decided to hang out at the bar one night where he usually stayed.

It wasn’t that Steve was afraid to approach you; he had been on several dates and knew exactly how to treat a woman right. It was more of the fact that he was Captain America and that fame caught the attention of ecstatic patrons. He didn’t want people to think he was using his status to talk to you or to make you feel awkward by approaching you. That’s why he was surprised when you began to chat him up at the bar, a cheerful smile lighting up your face when you realized that he had been visiting the club to see your performances.

He was grateful for this turn of fortune, finally blessed with the opportunity to talk to you and get to know the beautiful singer that he had grown to admire. The both of you had talked for hours, eventually leading to the exchanging of numbers and a dinner date.

One that would go horribly wrong.

That following Friday, Steve had picked you up from your apartment and taken you to a fancy restaurant recommended by Tony. According to the suave billionaire, the food was fantastic and the service was top-notch. He went on to say that the restaurant was his lucky charm because his night always ended in the bed of a beautiful woman. Of course, Steve didn’t needed to hear that extra information and had no intentions of ending the night on some so-called wild romp. He just wanted to spend some time with you.

The both of you had arrived at the restaurant and were seated. The atmosphere was quite romantic and you complimented Steve on his choice. After ordering your desired meals and talking about various things, your food arrived after waiting for some time. As the two you enjoyed your meal, the night was ruined when suddenly a waiter tripped near you and spilled the contents of someone’s meal all over you.

The restaurant was filled with loud gasps and surprise covered the faces of the guests and restaurant staff. Steve stared at your messy appearance as you sat there completely mortified by what just took place. The waiter panicked when he realized what he had just done and apologized profusely.

Feeling sympathy for the waiter, you gave him an awkward smile because you too were very clumsy and often spilled things. The embarrassed waiter was about to help clean you off with a towel until he had saw that your date had come over to help you. He swallowed hard when he realized that your date was no ordinary person.

Steve had saw how visibly shaken the waiter had become, so he gave him a small smile in hopes of calming him down.

“It’s alright. People make mistakes. Just be careful next time,” Steve said gently.

The man quickly nodded before skittering off to get more towels.

After cleaning you up as much as they could, both you and Steve left the restaurant since the mood was ruined by the little incident. He had taken you back to your apartment, walking you all the way to your door to make sure you got in safely. The both of you decided to plan yet another date, promising to text each other later to make a decision on what you should do next. Three days later, Steve currently found himself sitting with the Vision, discussing ideas what on what both you and Steve could do.

“It’s a shame that happened to your date. I could only image how embarrassed the poor woman was,” Vision said as he shook his head somberly.

“She took the whole thing pretty well though. I was really happy that she wanted to try for another date,” Steve said, smiling at your optimism.

“Well, since your last date was at a restaurant, how about having dinner at someone’s apartment?” Vision proposed.

“I like the idea. It’s more personal and we wouldn’t have to worry about any mishaps again,” Steve agreed as he pulled out his phone to start texting.

“I wish you both the best of luck this time. Tell me how your date goes,” Vision added as he stood up from the recliner where he was sitting to attend to some task.

Steve and you decided to have dinner at your place for your second date. The next evening, Steve arrived at your apartment, bringing over some ingredients and a bottle of wine to go with the dinner that you both planned to cook.

The both of you were having a fantastic time as you worked diligently in the kitchen. As you both seasoned meat, cut up vegetables, and switched on the oven, you talked about the details of your respective lives. Tales of childhood memories were told, achievements and failures were discussed, and some flirting in between were shared between the two of you.

After the food had finished cooking, the both of you settled down at your island counter and ate to your hearts’ content. Filling up your glasses with some sweet wine, the both of you toasted to a successful evening. As the both of you continued to eat, the smell of smoke alerted the both of you.

“We took everything out of the oven right?” you questioned with narrowed eyes.

“We did…” Steve answered as he glanced at the oven across the other side of the kitchen.  

The sharp ringing of your neighbor’s fire alarm permeated through the thin walls of your apartment, confusing you momentarily. Having a bad feeling, Steve stood up from his barstool and walked towards your door. You got up and followed him as well, concern growing for your neighbor.   

“Stay here. I’ll check it out,” Steve said placing a gentle hand on your shoulder.

You nodded and watched as he opened the door, only for the both of you to start coughing harshly from the dark smoke that billowed through the hallways.

Several minutes later, the both of you and the building’s other tenants were standing outside as firefighters went to contain the fire in your neighbor’s apartment. Steve was relieved that everyone got out safely and he had hoped that your apartment wasn’t affected, but he could tell by looking at your face that you were a bit upset.

“Hey, are you alright?” Steve asked causing you to turn your gaze towards him.

“I’m just thankful that we got out, but our date…” you trailed off sadly. Steve smiled at you and placed a hand on your cheek.

“Don’t worry. We’ll have another one. I’m not giving up.”

You couldn’t help the small grin that broke out on your face, causing Steve’s heart to skip. You were just too beautiful.

~~~~~~

A week passed since the fire had occurred. Steve and you didn’t have the time to go on another date since you had been taking care of your slightly damaged apartment. Naturally, Steve helped you if you needed an extra hand at the apartment, but he wanted to help you unwind from all the stressful work.

Steve and Sam had just finished their workout for the day at the local gym and found themselves walking towards a nearby park. Finding an empty bench, both men plopped themselves down and breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’m not sure what to do for our next date,” Steve began as he leaned back against the bench and watched as people walked by. “The last two dates went horribly and I feel so bad for her.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty terrible,” Sam said as he used his gym towel to wipe the sweat off his face. “Hey, why don’t you take her to a baseball game? You haven’t been to one in a while.”

“I’ll give it a try,” Steve mentioned as he pondered over the possible outcomes for this date. “Hopefully third time’s the charm.”

After managing to set up another date with you and scoring two tickets for the next game, Steve and you eventually found yourselves cheering loudly at the stadium several days later. Since the two of you were avid baseball fans, you both decided to wear matching jerseys in support of your team.

Steve grinned as he watched you yell loudly when your team had scored a homerun. He had never seen you so fired up before as you were having difficulty staying still in your seat. It was honestly the cutest thing he had even seen and it was absolutely refreshing. Finally, the both of you were enjoying yourselves.  

“Hey you better watch it, buddy!” yelled an angry fan behind you and Steve.

“I don’t have to watch anything,” slurred a drunken man who was trying to stumble pass the man to his seat.

“You wanna repeat that again?” screamed the irate man who began standing up and getting in the face of the other man.

You stayed close to Steve, growing a little nervous and hoping that security would notice the commotion.

“Alright, gentlemen. Let’s calm down and just watch the game,” Steve said firmly as he stood up to face the two men, not wanting the situation to escalate.

“You stay outta my business,” retorted the fuming man. “I don’t give a damn if you’re Captain America.”

“Y-yeah! What he said,” chimed the intoxicated man.

“You keep your stinking mouth shut!” the angry man shouted as his face started to turn red.

Wincing slightly from the screaming match between the two men, you stood up and placed a hand on Steve’s back.

“Steve, we should probably jus-”

You weren’t able to finish your sentence before a fist came flying towards your jaw, almost causing you to keen backwards if it wasn’t for Steve catching you. The sounds of gasps from the surrounding fans were heard although the severe pain in your jaw prevented you from noticing.

Surprise was written on the face of both men as they were not expecting someone else to get hurt from their fighting. They swallowed thickly as their gaze finally landed on steeled blue eyes.

Jaw clenched tightly, Steve looked at both gentlemen hard as if he was about to give them a beating that would be ingrained in their bodies for the rest of their lives.

“Leave,” was the only word from Steve’s mouth, causing the two men to scramble over the feet of other fans.

The rest of the day was spent at the hospital, leaving Steve and you frustrated with three failed dates. Even worse, Steve was angry that you actually got injured. It was like he couldn’t do anything right to make you happy.

Looking at you, his frown softened when he had seen the dark bruise that was left on your jaw. He wanted nothing more than to hold you and to make you feel better, but only felt that he would make things worse.

After he had taken you home for the night and made sure that you had everything, he returned back to the Avengers facility. Walking to the lounge area, he found Wanda and Natasha chatting quietly among themselves. Noticing Steve, both turned around to greet him.

“Hey. How’d your date go?” Natasha asked as she gave him a small smile.

Sitting down in the sofa across from them, he sighed tiredly.

“Not well. We ended up at the hospital.”

“Oh no! What happened?” Wanda questioned.

“These two guys started arguing behind us and one of the guys threw a punch. It ended up hitting her,” Steve answered, feeling small waves of anger.

“Is she alright?” Natasha asked.

“She’ll be fine. Just a lot of swelling on her jaw,” Steve replied. “She has to take some days off from singing so she can heal.”

“That’s unfortunate. I really hope she feels better,” Wanda remarked.

“It’s like every time we plan something, there’s a problem,” Steve mumbled miserably. “I just want to make her happy.”

Getting up to go sit with Steve, Natasha placed a hand on his back for support.

“Just tell her how you feel,” Natasha encouraged. “Don’t beat around the bush and go straight for it.”

“What if she doesn’t want to try again?” Steve asked, doubting himself a little.

“She won’t reject you. You’ve gone on three dates already despite what happened,” Wanda spoke. “Not a lot of people are willing to try for a second or even a third date when things go bad.”

“Yeah, so stop stressing Captain,” Natasha chuckled. “Focus less on trying to impress her and just confess. Things will work out.”

“Thanks guys,” Steve said voicing his gratefulness. “I’ll stop by her place tomorrow.”

The next day, Steve was standing in front of the door to your apartment. He was a little worried that you would turn him down, but he had to get this off his chest. Taking a deep breathe, he knocked on your door and waited for you to answer. Hearing the shuffling of feet and the sound of the door being unlocked, Steve attempted to put on his best front.

“Steve?” you greeted him, surprised to find him at your door. “What’s up?”

Steve noticed the way you stood there awkwardly, almost as if you were ashamed to show your face. His eyes trailed over to the bruise that had become darker on your face. Frowning, he turned his eyes back towards yours.

“Could I talk to you for a minute?” Steve asked politely.

You nodded and stepped aside to let him in. After closing the door, you and Steve headed to your living room and sat down on the sofa. The both of you sat in silence for a minute before you decided to say something.

“I’m sorry,” you quickly blurted out, feeling somewhat embarrassed. “I feel like I kept ruining our dates and I understand if you don’t want to try anymore.”

Shaking his head, he placed a hand on top of yours in reassurance.

“Are you kidding me? I thought everything was my fault,” Steve admitted as he watched your sad expression.

“How so?” you blushed at the warm contact.

“Every time I wanted to do something nice with you, there was always an issue. I kept wondering if I had done something different, I’d finally get to make you smile,” Steve explained.

“So…does this mean you still want to…” you started until Steve interjected.

“Yes, I still want to date you,” Steve confessed as he cupped your bruised jaw gently with his free hand. “I really like you, Y/N.”

Steve stared at you in amazement as he watched your eyes lit up from the confession. The smile that he had grown fond of decorated your pretty face and he wanted nothing more than to kiss you right there.

“I like you a lot too,” you replied, reciprocating your feelings for him.

Moving his head closer towards you, he watched as your eyes fluttered shut in anticipation of his kiss. Steve’s own eyes closed once he felt the contact of your delicate lips against his, sighing happily.  

It had taken you both three tries at romance, but thanks to the simple advice from Natasha and Wanda, he had finally reached it with his favorite songbird.


End file.
